The difference between Education & School

School is a relatively new invention as we know it today. Check out Wikipedia history of Education.

Prior to the 'classroom' children learnt by experience and from each other.

School requires students to memorize information given to them by the teacher and then the teacher must test to check that that information has been received. School judges children on their capabilities against children of the same age.
It cannot logistically look at every child individually and assess them on their individual abilities, they have to assess in groups and then measure against others in the country, regardless of region, life experiences, practical capabilities or emotional intelligence.

So what does this do to a child's sense of self?
I will let you reflect on your own experiences and answer that yourself.

So what is education then, if not something you gain at school.
Well at school you learn to be schooled.

An education is life long.
It happens everywhere and is ongoing.

How does this look in relation to Home Education?
When you have your children with you they are learning from your experiences as well as their own.
Home educated children gain an education in life, particularly if 'school at home' is not used.
A child will learn mathematics, science, reading and writing by doing daily tasks such as baking or cooking. Gardening, car maintenance, banking or visiting family in care facilities is all learning.
Even driving in the car a child will ask about signs they see and what they mean - this is learning and it is relevant to the child and therefore they will retain that information.

Kids will always ask questions - answer them to the best of your ability and research answers if you cannot. This is learning!

But what about High School?
I have heard a number of home schooled individuals who have entered main stream school for their senior years, say, "so much time is wasted at school, the other children are not interested in learning"
There is a lot of behavioural management from the teachers in class before they even offer the class their lesson.
There is little to no 1 on 1 time with a teacher and being inquisitive can go against you because the system doesn't allow time for exploration of topics.

Now I know schools are trying different ways of offering an education but as with most institutions they move slowly.

A little story about one of my  children at a family reunion a number of years ago.
My eldest would have been 7 years of age. I have a relative qualified in Primary School teaching and she reported back to me that she had never come across such an inquisitive child. I mean, she was shocked!
Now my daughter is not outgoing, is quite reserved, not what I'd call a people pleaser.
I am not surprised that my child was curious, she has never been forced to learn anything she didn't want to. She knows to wash her hands, cross roads safely etc because she knows the importance of each of these skills, its a part of her education.

The type of home education that I do is Life Schooling, similar to Unschooling so when the children are curious they learn as much as they can about any subject they like and it usually stays with them.
My relative was truly shocked. So my question to her was, what happened to all the curious kids at school? She couldn't answer.

I explained what and how we did education. She mentioned that they could not encourage students to skip ahead because the needed to have something to learn the following year! What??

This conversation really cemented home to me that my kids where gaining an education by being Life Schooled and if they want to be schooled at some stage then that choice will be theirs to make. Because school is going nowhere. It will always be there, but kids are only kids once.

Offering a rounded education to your child at home, travelling and in the community is a wonderful option and creates a love of life long learning.

So if you have the opportunity to home educate at any stage of your child's life, do it.

Let them get an education.

Annmarie x